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“And give up a chance for a five-reatest art heist in history?” she said “No way”

They entered the club and were e bouncer

“Club is closed until nine,” he said in English

“I’ us”

The bouncer nodded and pointed to a flight of stairs at the back

Udo dealer that had set up the ive a last name, not that Beth had asked Surnames had been required in Thailand after a laas passed in 1913, but many Thai still preferred to use just their first names when they could

They went upstairs and were er than the one at the front door She gave her naain and was allowed in

A spindly ainst a desk She hadn’t thought a drug pusher would use the crystal meth and ecstasy that he dealt to the tourists on their hedonistic holidays, but now, seeing his rail-thin frame and sunken eyes, she wasn’t so sure

There were a dozen men in the expansive office Half of them looked Thai, but the other half, who all looked jacked on steroids, were froer on

“Come in, Dr Anders,” Udom said with a smile “Who is this lovely lady with you?”

“This is my assistant, Raven”

“All right Then let’s get down to business”

Beth’s heart pounded when she sahat he was casually twirling in his hands It was a ten-inch-high bronze eagle finial that fit on the top of a flagpole

The finial she was looking at had been sought after for over twenty-five years, and this drug dealer was playing with it like it was a cheap paperweight

Beth’s expertise was art history She’d earned a PhD in the subject fro to secure a position in academia But that plan was derailed when she was hired by an insurance firm to appraise a Picasso in a billionaire’s penthouse in New York City She discovered that it had been replaced with an excellent forgery, and her help in the investigation led to the recovery of the ten-